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Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Counter Phish

I was out with two friends at BW3 the other night, and mentioned the phishing site that I posted about in Support Question (2017-02-21) . My buddy Lash has the perfect solution.

Note the number you're supposed to call and kill your browser. Block caller ID and call the number. You'll get some putty head who claims to be with Micro$oft. Your conversation will go something like this:

Putty Head: Goo' morning, this Microsof' te' suppor'. You having error in windoze?
Mad Jack: I sure am. I was given this number to call.
PH: Goo' I help you. You get lotta windows error messages, pretty soon computer crash, bad for everyone.
MJ: Well, I sure hope you can help me. I really don't know much about this computer business, but before we go any further I'm going to need your credit card number.
PH: Ah... Wha'?
MJ: I said, before we go any further, I'm going to need your credit card number, along with your name and the expiration date on the card.
PH: Credit car'?
MJ: Yes, credit card. Mastercard, Visa, whatever. What's the number?
PH: I don'...
MJ: Look, just give me the number and we'll get started. Okay?
PH: No. Hol' on, prease.

The supervisor will get on the phone, if you're lucky.

Chuckle Head: Hello?
MJ: Yeah, hi there. I was just explaining to Putty Head that I needed a credit card number before we could go any further. What's the number?
CH: No. I - wait. What you need?
MJ: Your credit card number. You do have a credit card, right?
CH: Yeah...
MJ: So give me the number, the name on the card, the expiration date and the security code. Then we can get started.Long silence.
MJ: Hello?
CH: Ah - we busy now, we call you back. Okay?
MJ: Sure. Nice talking to you!

They never called back, I'm told. Lash claims that he once went three levels deep before they hung up on him. Well, maybe so, but the next time anyone calls me with something like this, this is the approach I'm going to use. In the name of fun, you see.